47.

Wednesday

"Ngnnn…" Vexen groaned. No, don't want to wake up. He turned his sore neck. And something tickled his face. The curiosity must have gotten his brain working because there was no way his inverse functions could be furry. He scratched his cheek and let himself open his eyes. Pink.

'Oh yeahhh', Vexen thought. He looked at his window and remembered last night. He has horrible aim. Vexen looked around his bed and his friend on half his right side. Now that he thought about it… Wasn't I on that side of the bed? Somehow they had switched at some point leaving him on his back, and Marluxia on his stomach, Vexen's arm and shoulder and twirled around his right leg.

6:45AM

Any minute, he'd push his friend off him and get up.

He choked in surprise (and literally choked) when Marluxia's bicep landed on his neck.


Lately, Roxas had been keeping a close, okay maybe not 'close', but a more observing eye on Axel, with how he was around him, and how he behaved with other people. Roxas and Sora (because he dragged Sora into it) didn't stalk him in school. No, of course not. They went about their normal routine and followed their established routes around the school. It's just that if they suddenly saw Axel… they'd hide behind something taller than them and watch before proceeding with their natural and habitual goings about.

So there they were, in the twelfth-grade hallway, where some of the mixed eleven/twelve classes were -behind a trash can. The large tub of green plastic was nearly half their height but there was no way they could both fit behind a skinny locker door. It was okay though, no one tripped over them or anything.

"He says things to me the way he used to, but I can't help but read in to every perceived slight. You know like when people say 'let's hook up.' I never got if that meant meeting up, like networking kind of 'he hooked me up with this-!' Or meeting up for sex."

Roxas explained to Sora what had happened with Tidus in the bathroom the other day. But being Sora, he was next to useless when it came to the rumour mill and gossip or fashion trends, like him. And now, when it came to Axel, who had reserved seating in the space of Roxas' mind, it suddenly wasn't so settling to be a non-conformist.

Watching Axel do nothing but exchange some textbooks in his locker, Roxas began to feel stupid in his crouched position on the hallway floor. "Ugh, I've officially turned into an obsessed high school girl."

"Borrow Kairi's kilt and you'd be spot on."

"Wait a minute..!"

It was like he was watching himself walk up to Axel. It was creepy. Ventus Masters. How common is it to actually meet your very own doppelganger? Irrelevant as it were, everything about Ven creeped Roxas out, helping him maintain that disinterested dislike for the boy. But just like when they'd first met in English class, Roxas had this coming. 'Ventus replacing Roxas.' It sounded like a really screwed up nightmare, but the way Axel turned around and couldn't even tell the difference when Ventus smiled at him… Okay, he'd forgive that one. It was an honest mistake. It's not like Axel had drove him to school that day and seen with his own eyes what he'd been wearing today… not that he expected Axel to remember everything he wore.

Roxas rolled his eyes at himself. He turned away from Axel and Ventus and looked around. "Where's Kairi?"

Just then, Sora pulled him down and they both saw the two boys laughing together at something so funny they had to hold each other's shoulders to keep themselves from falling over. Axel then said something to Ventus and it was clear from the blond looking off to the side and suppressing a smile that..

"Is that-?"

"Did he just-?"

Were they being flirty? Ventus was clearly blushing.

"That's not a 'perceived slight.'"

"No. Doesn't look like it, does it." Roxas picked himself off the ground, readjusted his bag and started walking. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead as he walked right passed the two, knowing Axel didn't even notice.

Sora caught up to his brother and whispered beside him. "And he looked-."

"Like he was talking to me?" Roxas finished for him. "Yeah, I know."


The Strife-Leonhart household was finishing dinner when Cloud asked the twins to basically reschedule anything they had planned for the following day. Cloud and Sephiroth had already purchased their new house where they and their offspring would inhabit come next week, hence all the packing everyone had been doing lately.

"So soon?"

"Yes, Roxas." Cloud said seriously. "I want you and Sora to meet me tomorrow at the new house. There're some things I want to change before we start making trips back and forth." Packing was mostly done, and soon the moving would follow.

The twins groaned simultaneously. They hated learning of things last minute, but unfortunately, shit happens. Shit like fathers cheating on fathers and changing everything in their lives. Silently admitting defeat, they lifted their empty plates and their cutlery and head for the counter to place it next to the sink.

Leon, who hadn't said one word the entire dinnertime, rose quietly and placed his own plate on top of his sons' and walking away like he was the only one in the house.

Everyone saw this, saw him heading for the stairs and up to the bedroom he still shared with Cloud. The twins didn't even want to question how they still slept in the same bed. It could have been either immensely complicated or painfully simple. Either or, they did not speak a word. They were halfway out of the kitchen when Cloud interrupted them.

"Boys? Could you please do the dishes tonight? I have to unload some things in the garage. And I'm tired." Just like that, he walked away, knowing his 'angels' of children would do it because he asked them to. "Thank you!" And into the garage he went.

Sora and Roxas looked at each other.

"You do it," Roxas said, first. "I took out the garbage."

"I made dinner," Sora countered.

"That's why it was so heavy."

"Bitch." Unamused.

"Whore."

"Skank."

"Buttslut," Roxas snickered and snapped his fingers repeatedly. "OH! Game, set, and match, Roxas! Thank you!" And he dashed for the stairs.

"What the hell!" he whined. Turning, Sora pouted at the sink and rolled up his sleeves.


Who loves me for such a quick update? Drop me a review!

YHS

xDelfin